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Friday, May 31, 2013

Medical negligence cases on the rise in Andhra Pradesh

From HYDERABAD: Ten years have passed since regional passport officer K Srikar Reddy's wife and unborn baby died during childbirth due to alleged medical negligence in Hyderabad. The senior IFS officer is still hoping that one day, justice will be delivered. The Andhra Pradesh Medical Council, without even conducting a hearing had given a clean chit to the doctor who was involved in the medical botch-up. But Reddy moved the Medical Council of India, and the licence of the doctor was revoked, but just for three months. "It is almost impossible to prove a doctor's negligence. Doctor's don't testify against other doctors and benefit of doubt is given to the doctor and not the victim," Reddy, himself a medical doctor, told TOI. "I was in Delhi when tragedy struck and I lost Srilatha, but I am still hopeful and have filed fresh petitions," Reddy said. Like Reddy, hundreds of others are wondering when they will get justice, if at all. Instances of surgeries going wrong leaving patients disabled, in coma or dead are being increasingly reported statewide. While police are unable to come to a conclusion on these cases, the AP Medical Council, a regulatory body, is not enforcing code of ethics on the registered medical practitioners in the state. Increasing frequency of surgical errors and adverse events during the hospital stay has led to a four-fold rise in medical negligence cases over the last five years. Around 1,500-2,000 such cases are pending in various consumer redressal forums in the state, and relatives of most victims are spending endless days shuttling between court rooms, hoping that the guilty would be punished. In fact, World Health Organisation data shows that one out of 10 patients is harmed in hospitals in developed nations, but the incidence is 20 times greater in developing nations like India. Data from International Society for Quality in Healthcare reveals that the percentage of hospital acquired infections in best of the private hospitals in the state ranged between 7-8%, the figure varied from 15 to 25% in other private and public hospitals. This year, cases of two women dying due to a botched-up abortion in Nalgonda were reported and prior to that a male lecturer and a homemaker died at two city hospitals after liposuction surgeries went awry. Apart from negligence leading to death, cases of wrong diagnosis contributing to worsening of the disease and cases of carrying out unwanted surgeries are frequent in Hyderabad, experts said. Lawyer Devender Rao, who has handled around 50 cases of medical negligence shares the case of a couple that died after a liver transplant surgery due to post operative negligence. "The wife donated liver to her husband but slipped into coma within 48 hours of surgery and her husband subsequently died. She remained in coma for four years and died subsequently," said Rao. Their son filed a case in 2005 and the hearing is still going on at the AP State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. He attributed the rising number of medical negligence cases to poor post-operative care facilities in the hospitals. Experts added that it is a herculean task to prove medical negligence cases in India in the absence of an authorised body like in the developed nations. Once at the hospital, patients are at the doctor's mercy, they maintain. Dr Dayakar Reddy, founder and trustee of Right To Health, said that AP Medical Council is an inactive body that does not exercise its powers. "I had lodged a complaint about a decade ago along with few other members against a doctor. The doctor vanished from AP soon after and when I asked about the status of the case, there is no response," rues Reddy. Meanwhile, RPO Srikar Reddy has joined the People For Better Treatment, a pressure group of medical negligence victims in the state, hoping that a strong forum can help get many people justice. "I hope to set an example for doctors that they should be careful while dealing with patients, who are human beings," Reddy added.

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